WO1996036551A1

WO1996036551A1 - Foil dispenser

Info

Publication number: WO1996036551A1
Application number: PCT/CH1996/000187
Authority: WO
Inventors: Pius Schuler
Original assignee: Pius Schuler
Priority date: 1995-05-15
Filing date: 1996-05-15
Publication date: 1996-11-21
Also published as: ATE181711T1; EP0825960B1; DE59602335D1; US6105481A; EP0825960A1

Abstract

The housing (11) for a roll of foil consists of a housing body (12) with a roll chamber and a holder guide and a cover plate (13), a holder guide cover (14) and a roll chamber cover (15a). The roll chamber has a dispensing slot (22) and the holder guide has a cutting slot (23). A cutting blade (17) projects through the cutting slot (23) and is fitted on a blade holder guided in the holder guide. With the housing (11) sufficiently inclined, the blade (17) moves under the force of gravity along the cutting slot (23) and cuts off the unrolled section of foil (10), while before during and after cutting one hand holds the housing and the other the unrolled foil section (10).

Description

Foil dispenser

The invention relates to a film dispenser for storing film web rolled into a roll and for separating and dispensing end sections of the film web according to the preamble of patent claim 1.

Films, especially plastic films, are used in large quantities for various purposes in households and hospitality businesses. Usual so-called catering foil is used to cover containers with prepared dishes or food scraps or to pack food. Such films are available in different film thicknesses. There are also foils that are microwave and / or oven-heat-resistant or are particularly suitable for packaging frozen foods. Rotting film material is already known, which does not have to be burned after use, but is compostable. In any case, for ecological reasons, such plastic film is preferable to the aluminum film used for similar purposes. It is often only used because it is easier to use. Even if the plastic film itself is valued as an extremely practical aid, problems arise, however, when unrolling and separating film sections from the endless film material rolled into a roll, which are larger than when using aluminum film. The cutting off of film sections with scissors, as was customary with sandwich paper, which can be regarded as the predecessor of the film, has proven to be impractical for films. Therefore, such foils have long been sold in the form of rolls in cardboard boxes, which are used to store the roll on the one hand and on the other hand aids 2

Detach sections of the film. These tools usually consist of a saw bar in the form of a thin metal strip similar to the saw blade of a hacksaw. This saw bar extends openly along a box opening. Such foil boxes prove to be quite impractical. The cylindrical film rolls do not turn too well in the boxes. Since the saw bar must not cut too well in order to avoid injuries, it is necessary to pull relatively strongly at the outer end of the unrolled film in order to separate the film sections. This stretches or stretches the section of film to be removed before the film finally tears along the saw bar. Because of this overstretching of the film material, the separated film section subsequently curls in the overstretched area. Another disadvantage of these boxes, which are designed as disposable items, is that they result in a relatively large amount of waste containing metal. In order to keep the amount of waste small, relatively thin and therefore flexible cardboard is used. If you grasp these boxes too strongly, you deform them, which means that the role in them turns even worse.

For a long time, therefore, various devices have been offered which are not disposable products and which are intended to make it easier to cut off film sections compared to the cutting process described above.

Some of these devices, like the box mentioned, have saw blade strips along which the foil sections are separated. For example, FR-2 697 822 A1 describes a device with an elastically deformable plastic cover, in which the roll is received. One edge of the plastic cover is designed as a blade similar to a saw blade. Although this device is handy, it has several disadvantages. For example, the film roll is not protected because it is not inside a housing. In addition, the device in its normal design is only suitable for right-handed people. For left-handers it is recommended to make a device of the same type.

Another device with a saw blade bar is the subject of EP-0 023 473 AI. The device has a mandrel for receiving the core of the film roll, which between two plates is stored. The device can be set up with a vertical or horizontal mandrel. The saw blade bar is also freely attached between the plates at a distance from this mandrel. The roller is not protected in this device either, and the free-standing saw bar is either too inefficient or else dangerous.

In addition, devices are known, for example from EP-0 265 552 A1, in which the film rolls are accommodated in housings, usually made of plastic or wood. The housings have dispenser slots through which a rolled-up film end projects into the open. The film end is guided over a cutting slot arranged parallel to the dispenser slot and separated with a knife which can be moved transversely to the film material or parallel to the roll axis. These devices are relatively complex and consequently expensive. Another disadvantage is that these devices have to be attached to a wall, for example a kitchen. Kitchen walls are usually provided with ceramic plates and the doweling in of such devices is therefore undesirable in rental objects. Occasionally, it is proposed to glue the devices to the ceramic plates, but their weight, together with the tensile force exerted when the film is removed, is generally too high for secure fastening by gluing. In certain kitchens there is also no space to attach such a device to the wall. In addition, exchanging the empty spool for a new film roll in wall-mounted devices is usually cumbersome. Finally, it should also be borne in mind that objects suspended in the kitchen always become relatively quickly contaminated by the vapors produced during cooking.

For the above-mentioned reason, attempts have been made to create a device in the form of a housing which has a knife device and thus allows simple removal of film sections without the device necessarily having to be fastened to the wall. Such a device is described in DE-43 08 135 AI. The device has an elongated housing with a roller space. This has a dispenser slot through which the free end of the unrolled film runs out of the roll room. This end of the film runs against the housing through a cutting slot that runs parallel to the dispenser slot. A knife is used to cut off end sections of the film a blade holder and a cutting blade protruding through the cutting slot, which has two opposing cutting surfaces oriented in the direction of the cutting slot. The blade holder is guided along the cutting slot in a holder guide which is separate from the roller space. This device has several advantages: The device can be stored in a cabinet or in a drawer and therefore hardly gets dirty. The roll is arranged in a stable, cylindrical roll space, so that it is protected and can easily be rotated to unroll the film. The knife acts on both sides, so it does not have to be reset after each cutting operation. The blade holder guide is separated from the roll space, so that the slide of the knife does not damage the film rolled into the roll. Nevertheless, this device also has a serious disadvantage, as can be seen from the following description of its handling: When an end section of the film is cut off, the device must be held in one hand - unless it is fastened to the wall, which one tries to avoid. The second hand is required to operate the knife device. Now a third hand would actually be needed to grip the cut film section. As a result of the absence of this third hand, the cut end of the film falls down after the cut, for example on the table, on which mostly food and used dishes are located, or on the floor. Both are undesirable for hygienic and practical reasons. The disadvantage of this device is obvious.

Accordingly, it is the object of the present invention to create a film dispenser which allows an end section of the film to be cut cleanly in free space, the film section to be separated being held continuously with one hand and with the other hand.

This object is achieved by a film dispenser according to the preamble of patent claim 1 and its characterizing features.

Based on the drawings, an advantageous embodiment of the film dispenser according to the invention is presented in the following description and its function and handling is explained. It shows:

Figure 1: An inventive film dispenser without a knife, in an exploded view;

FIG. 2: a knife of the film dispenser according to the invention;

Figure 3: Skids in the blade holder guide;

FIG. 4: The film dispenser shown in FIG. 1 in the position of use with a partially separated end section of the film;

Figure 5: An advantageous embodiment of a housing body.

The film dispenser shown in FIG. 1 has a housing 11 which consists of an elongated housing body 12. One end face of which is firmly closed by a cover plate 13, and the second end face is closed by a partially removable cover device. This cover device consists of a holder guide cover 14 and a roller chamber cover 15 with spacer 19. The foil dispenser also includes a knife 16 shown in FIG. 2, which consists of a cutting blade 17 with two cutting edges 17a, 17b and a blade holder 18.

The housing body 12 is approximately drop-shaped in cross section. It contains a cylindrical roller space 20 for receiving a film roll, not shown, and a holder guide 21 which is separate from the roller space 20 and runs parallel to it. The housing body 12 has a continuous dispenser slot 22 in the region of the roller space 20, through which the end section according to FIG. 5 10 of the film roll protrudes, which is being cut off in FIG. 5. In parallel to the dispenser slot 22, the housing body 12 has a likewise continuous cutting slot 23 in the region of the holder guide 21, through which the cutting blade, as shown in FIG. 5, when the film dispenser is in the assembled state 17 of the knife 18 protrudes. As shown in FIG. 3, the holder guide 21 has runners 21a running in its longitudinal direction, on which the blade holder 18 slides and is guided. Alternatively, the blade holder 18 could also be provided with runners. The housing body 12 preferably consists of a section of an endless profile rod made of, for example, extruded plastic. Correspondingly cut sections of the same profile material can be used for housings and thus also for film rolls of different lengths. The cover plate 13 corresponds to the cross section of the housing body 12 and is attached to the latter, for example by gluing or welding. The holder guide cover 14 consists of a corresponding plate-shaped piece which, like the cover plate 13, is fixedly attached to the housing body 12. It covers that part of the end face of the housing body 12 which is not closed by the roller chamber cover 15. The roller chamber cover 15 is round and is designed such that it can be easily removed, for example in the manner of a cover as used for medicine tubes, that is to say with a rigid cover plate 15a and a type of elastic bellows 15b or with an elastic ring element 15c.

The knife 16 shown in FIG. 2 consists of the cutting blade 17 and the blade holder 18. The cutting blade 17 is fastened in a groove 18a of the blade holder 18 and has two knife parts facing away from one another. Their cutting edges 17a, 17b run at an acute angle to the cutting slot in the assembled state of the device 10 according to FIG. 5

23 and are facing it. The blade holder 18 here consists of a sliding body with the same cross-sectional shape as the blade holder guide 21, so that it fits into it with little play. It has damping bodies 18b on its end faces, of which only the one on the left is shown in FIG.

As shown in the embodiment according to FIG. 5, there is a run-up section in the housing body 12

24 formed for the knife. This run-up section 24 is necessary in order to be able to remove the stationary knife 16 from the path of the pulled-out film when it is unrolled and placed on the outer edge of the housing body 12. However, it also has another very important function, which is cardinal for the present invention and its function: the film dispenser according to the invention differs from previously known directions in that when the housing is inclined sufficiently, the knife moves to a certain extent automatically, ie without manual operation, along the cutting slot and thus separates the unrolled, free end section of the film. The knife moves in the blade holder guide along the cutting slot under gravity. For this purpose, the film dispenser is held with one hand while the second hand is free to put the end of the film on the housing and to hold it during and after it has been separated. The run-up section 24 is therefore necessary as an acceleration section for the knife 16, which must be accelerated from a standstill before the cutting process begins so that it then continues to move despite the braking effect caused by the cutting resistance. By choosing a housing body 12, the roller space 20 of which is somewhat longer than the roller, the run-up section 24 can be designed as required. So that the roller always remains at the correct end of the roller space 20, the spacer 19 is used in the region of the run-up section 24.

Even though the process of cutting off using the force of gravity acting on the knife is simple, the conditions under which it can run smoothly are limited. On the one hand, the component of the weight of the knife acting in the direction of the cutting slot has to overcome the friction between the blade holder and the holder guide, initially even the static friction, on a run-up path along which no film material has yet to be cut, which is higher is the sliding or rolling friction referred to here as "kinetic friction". On this run-up section, the knife must also be accelerated to such an extent that it continues to move despite the braking effect of the film on which it impacts. On the other hand, on the following cutting section, where, as after the start of the knife, there is no static friction, but kinetic friction, the cutting resistance of the film is additionally overcome. The resistance to the movement of the knife along the cutting path is greater than the static friction. The mass of the knife must be chosen so that the direction of the cutting lock Acting force components of the knife weight and the inertial force of the knife overcomes the kinetic friction, increased by the cutting resistance caused by the film material. In addition, the The starting distance must be dimensioned such that it enables sufficient acceleration of the knife.

The dynamics of the knife are of course significantly influenced by the extent of the inclination of the film dispenser. The steeper the film dispenser is held, the lower the weight of the knife has to be. However, since the film dispenser is held very steeply, there is a risk that the end section of the film to be separated cannot be placed cleanly and wrinkle-free on the exterior of the housing, it is assumed that the film dispenser is in a rather flat position, that is to say with an inclination of its longitudinal axis of about 15 degrees or more but less than 75 degrees is used.

If the knife holder is provided with rollers, the kinetic friction consists of the rolling friction, which is less than the sliding friction. The weight of the knife could therefore be chosen to be smaller than that of a sliding knife. Nevertheless, the less complex, because structurally far simpler solution is to design the knife holder so that it moves smoothly along the holder. In terms of cost, the additional mass of material to be used is significantly less important than the relatively complicated manufacture of a rolling blade holder. In addition, sliding blade holders are less prone to failure than rolling blade holders.

As already mentioned, the start-up distance of the knife must be dimensioned so that the knife is accelerated sufficiently. Even without further measures, a certain, albeit very limited, run-in distance is obtained in that the cutting slot must be so long that the knife is completely removed from the area of the film web at a certain distance while an end section of the film material is being rolled off the film in any case, even if it is unrolled at a slight angle, does not get into the resting area of the knife when it is placed against the housing. If this section is not sufficient as a starting section, the cutting slot and thus the entire housing can be made correspondingly longer. Since the housing, as just described, is in any case longer than the roller in the axial direction, it is advantageous to arrange a spacer 19 in the interior of the roller space, which at the same time serves as the roller axis and which therefore defines the axial position of the roller. The spacer used is, for example, a spacer which can be inserted loosely into the roll space and which can be arranged adjacent to one or the other end face of the housing. By arranging the spacer appropriately in one or the other position, the film dispenser can be set up for both right-handed and left-handed users.

If the knife is designed so that it moves smoothly, the blade holder can be designed in a simple manner in the form of a plate. For example, the blade holder can contain two partial plates, between which the cutting blade is fastened. A good solution is also to design the blade holder as a thicker plate and to arrange the cutting blade in a groove in this plate. At most, the cutting blade and the blade holder can be made in one piece. In order to prevent the removable cover device 14 from being knocked away from the housing by the blade holder 18 hitting it, and also to dampen the impact noise, it is advantageous to hold the blade holder 18 and / or the end faces of the housing against one another facing surfaces with damping elements. To avoid injuries caused by the cutting blade 17 protruding from the housing, it is favorable to design the cutting blade 17 such that its cutting edges 17a, 17b run at an acute angle to the cutting slot 23 and face it.

The housing is preferably designed such that it contains the blade holder guide 21 integrally. With the exception of the end parts, the housing can then be produced from a section of an endless profile rod. It would be favorable to offer the film dispenser in different colors to accommodate different qualities of film that would otherwise be difficult to distinguish.

In order to prevent the knife 17 from sliding out of the housing when an empty core is replaced by a new roll, it is advantageous, as already described, to design the cover device in such a way that it consists of two parts, namely a roll chamber cover 15 and one Holder guide cover 14 exists, wherein the holder guide cover 14 can be arranged firmly on the housing body 11, since the service life of the cutting blade 17 generally exceeds the service life of the film dispenser.

A particularly advantageous housing is shown in FIG. It consists of two different profile pieces 25, 26. One profile piece 25 forms the fixed housing part and the blade holder guide, while a second profile piece 26 forms a pivotable cover for opening the housing so that a film roll can be used easily. The fixed housing part 25 can be closed laterally, that is to say on its end faces, with lids which close the entire end space of the closed housing. The pivotable cover 26 is inserted longitudinally into a groove 27 on the other housing part 25, in which it can be pivoted about the longitudinal axis of the groove. This cover part 26 is advantageously designed in such a way that it closes by means of snap closures when the other housing part 25 is pivoted shut. When the cover part 26 is open, the film roll is inserted into the housing in such a way that it can be rolled off in the counterclockwise direction in the image shown and the end section is formed by the dispenser slot 22 between the outer edge 28 of the cover part 26 and the fixed housing part 25. The knife 17 in turn protrudes from the cutting slot 23 and is fastened to the blade holder, which can be easily moved back and forth in the blade holder guide 21.

Such a film dispenser according to the invention is simple, inexpensive to manufacture and easy to use. It can be supplied in a space-saving manner, is easy to clean, can be refilled without problems, can be operated with ease and provides precisely cut end sections of the film without stretched areas. Since this film dispenser is in every respect much more practical than the previously known devices, it is certain that plastic films will increasingly be used instead of the environmentally undesirable aluminum film, which has often been used because it has so far been easier to handle than plastic film. A further ecological advantage of the film dispenser is that replacement rolls can no longer be offered in the complex boxes with the saw blade strips, but in much cheaper refill packs.

Claims

claims

1. A film dispenser (10) for storing a film rolled into a roll and for separating and dispensing end sections (100) of the film, with a housing body (11, 12; 25, 26), from which at least one end face can be removed Cover device (14, 15) is closed and which includes a roller chamber (15) with a longitudinal axis (A) for receiving the roller to be inserted, the housing body (12) having a dispenser slot parallel to the axis (A) ( 22), through which the unrolled end (10) of the film roll can be guided, and a cutting slot (23) parallel to it, over which the unrolled end section (10) can be placed, and through one on both sides in the direction of the cutting slot (23) acting cutting blade (17) of a knife (16) and held by a blade holder (18), which blade holder (18) can be moved in a holder guide (21) arranged along the cutting slot (23), characterized in that the blade holder (18 ) with de m knife (16) with sufficient inclination of the blade holder guide (21) solely due to the force of gravity, the foil material placed over the cutting slot (23) can be slid slidingly or rolling along the blade holder guide (21).

2. Foil dispenser according to claim 1, characterized in that the Klingen¬ holder guide (21) is formed as an integral part of the housing body (12) and extends in the longitudinal direction beyond the end of the adjacent film roll in an extension (24), which is intended for receiving the blade holder (18) when not in use and at the same time forms a run-up section (24) for the knife (16).

3. Foil dispenser according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the blade holder (18) consists of a sliding body with the same cross-sectional shape as the blade holder guide (21), so that it fits into it with little play, and that it has a groove at the top which is a knife (17) with two knife parts each with a cutting edge (17a, 17b) is inserted, these cutting edges (17a, 17b) extending at an acute angle to the longitudinal direction of the sliding body and facing it.

4. Foil dispenser according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the housing consists of two different profile pieces (25, 26), the one profile piece (25) forming the fixed housing part and the blade holder guide (21) and being closed at its end faces with lids which close the entire front space of the closed housing, while the second profile piece (26) forms a pivotable cover for opening the housing, wherein it is inserted longitudinally into a groove (27) on the other housing part (25), in which it is pivotable about the longitudinal axis of the groove.

5. Foil dispenser according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the housing is formed from one or more sections of endless profile bars, preferably from extruded plastic.

6. A film dispenser according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the cover device (14, 15) for closing the open end face of the housing body (12) has a first holder guide cover (14) which closes the holder guide (21), and comprises a second roller space cover (15) closing the roller space (20), and a spacer (19) is inserted into the roller space (20) on the other end face.

7. A film dispenser according to claim 1, characterized in that the blade holder (18) has rollers on which it can be moved in a rolling manner in the blade holder guide (21).

8. Foil dispenser according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the blade holder (18) has damping bodies (18a) on its end faces.